West Side Pride: The Cross-Town Rivalry That Created Four Consecutive Championship Seasons

West Side Pride is the story of the classic cross-town rivalry between Warren Western Reserve and Warren G. Harding, two high schools in a small Northeast Ohio city. The rivalry came to a head when the two schools shared four consecutive championship seasons. This included both teams' first undefeated and untied seasons and more significantly, the state's very first playoff championship. West Side Pride looks closely at the rivalry, the driving force most responsible for sending both teams to the pinnacle of state competition. It also examines the creation and introduction of Ohio's playoff system, which was one of the first in the country. West Side Pride concludes by reviewing the collateral and enduring effects of the re-integration of the two schools, including Warren Western Reserve's lost legacy, contradicting its notability as Ohio's first playoff champions.Part historical reference and part personal memoir, West Side Pride both explains and amuses by integrating contextual foundation and statistical evidence among the firsthand accounts and anecdotes of the exceptional young men who helped create and sustain the rivalry. It also entertains a speculative look at what might have transpired had there been neither a fierce rivalry between Warren's two high schools, nor a playoff system. West Side Pride was written by a Western Reserve graduate and member of the football team.